It made our list of the 25 best survival games to play, and for good reason. You’re dropped in the middle of an alien planet mostly made up of water. Your job is to go deeper into the vast ocean to find out what happened to your crashed ship and the previous inhabitants of the planet while also finding a cure for a new disease you picked up. There are vast crafting systems, combat (though it isn’t the main focus), and dozens of species to encounter at every turn. Subnautica is not for the faint of heart, though, as some of the sealife is quite dangerous and comes out of nowhere to disrupt your journey. Descriptions hardly do Subnautica justice, as it’s something you need to experience for yourself to truly understand what type of game it is.
The story itself is silly, the characters are fun and quirky, with a few serious or sad moments thrown in. This game held my interest all the way through as I battled with choices and what was the “right” or “humane” thing to do. The soundtrack of this game is amazing, I found myself humming along to the iconic songs. Exploring the alien planet, collecting slimes, building a ranch, feeding slimes and collecting plorts, buying upgrades, trading items…all in a day’s work in the Far, Far, Range. There’s always something to discover and a puzzle to figure out using the help of these adorable, squishy slimes.
It’ll also hit PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on the same day. This is a city-building sim that takes place on the back of a giant creature. The score for 1000xResist, one of the best-received games of 2024, is getting a vinyl release in October.
That can make it a challenge to decide what is or isn’t an indie, but we’ve done our best to account for these considerations. Inside is particularly known for the dark narrative direction, noir art style, and overall unsettling atmosphere that was imagined in this puzzle platformer. The story follows a boy who is irreconcilably drawn towards the center of an insidious project.
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While this might sound like an RPG plot, Hades instead opts for pulse-pounding, mechanically tight action roguelike gameplay. With short, intense runs punctuated by spectacular boss fights, it’s very hard to put Hades down. You can spend your time growing crops, raising animals, battling monsters, mining, and even befriending (and marrying!) the various townspeople in this game. It’s truly the perfect game to play and relax after a stressful day. If you love games like Harvest Moon and Rune Factory 4, you will enjoy Stardew Valley. All the titles listed below are amazing games that also belong to the list.
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Players will be able to customise and upgrade their bikes in various ways that can result in some pretty eye-catching creations. Truckful is a single-player, car delivery adventure where one goes on quests and errands for villagers while uncovering the ancient mystery tied to the nearby old forest. Slay the Spire 2 is the sequel to the popular deck-building roguelike Slay the Spire, coming to Early Access in 2025.
[Top 15] Best Indie Games for PC
The only real question is whether you have enough ammo to annihilate everything standing between you and the top. Stardew Valley does have a story to uncover, but the game is what the player makes of it. You can choose to restore the town to the way it used to be (before corporate giant Joja Mart took over) or join forces with the Joja Corporation. There are also an impressive 12 bachelors or bachelorettes to choose from, and yes, you can marry the same or opposite gender of your choice.
Thankfully, they have a cute pup who helps them actually do things. A delightful demo is out now on Steam, and the game will hit PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 28. Chrono Odyssey has picked up plenty of momentum, as more than 400,000 people have already signed up to try it out. The horror-tinged, open-world MMORPG from Kakao Games and Chrono Studio will have a closed beta on Steam next month. It’s also set to be featured at the Summer Game Fest Live showcase on June 6.
VOID/BREAKER is promising fast-paced, fluid movement and destructible environments when it launches on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. A playstest for the game saw a 93.3% satisfaction rate among reported feedback from early players, so this one may be one to keep an eye on. The Eternal Life of Goldman’s hand-animated look means that no two rooms or landscapes are alike, and every aspect of the game, from characters to particle effects, is unique. This fast-paced, competitive multiplayer platformer pits up to eight players —that’s double the number of players compared to its predecessor!
It looks like dialogue choices will influence what you remember as well, ultimately allowing you to create your own scrapbook. In it you play as the son of Hades, Zegreus, who wishes to escape from the confines of the Underworld. You’ll wield various weapons of Olympus and gain powerful boons from the gods themselves, all in an attempt to escape the underworld. Success will slowly see you progress across the four main dungeons, like Tartarus or Asphodel.
With all the character drama and mid-battle chatter found in something like Gundam, Hardcore Mecha takes classic action platforming like that of the Assault Suit franchise and adds a pretty great story on top. Playing as a drama club that turns into magical girls to defend the works of the Bard is the kind of wacky premise I’d absolutely expect to come out of Japan. It moves at a quick pace and dispenses with a lot of the more tedious conventions of the genre, and to game review boot the music is killer. You’re Mono, a brave kid who wakes up in a strange, scary world full of monster adults. Mono and Six become best friends and team up to get out of this scary world.
The final product is a genre-defining experience, with a distinctive art-style that continues to inspire new games. Starting from the humble planet of Timber Hearth, you’ll explore the moon, comets and other planets, each with their own orbit around a rapidly collapsing star. Along the way, there’s mysteries to be solved, ancient civilisations to document, and friendly faces to meet. To reveal too much about Outer Wilds would be a detriment, so give this one a go if you love space, exploration, and indie games that’ll pull at your existential heartstrings.